The sparrows and other ground-feeders have been getting more and more 
active and vocal around my yard during this refreshing rainy period. I 
do maintain a feeder with safflower seed, mainly for the chickadees 
and titmice, and as something less attractive to House Sparrows than 
sunflower seed. It has been active. However I ran out of anything for 
the sparrows. So this morning at the grocery store I picked up a big 
bag of standard mixed bird seed and scattered it liberally around, 
front and back.

Not surprisingly, I soon had an invasion of House Sparrows, especially 
in front. There was a good supply of Whitethroats out back though. As 
I was watching them, to my delight a long-awaited new species for my 
yard came prancing across the grass: a yellow Palm Warbler.

Steve Sanford
Randallstown, Baltimore County
scartan^at^verizon^dot^net